Sautéed Summer Veggies & Portobello Sandwich

I had the BEST portobello mushroom hoagie at  Mellow Mushroom in Hickory. I immediately dragged my husband to the grocery store and purchased a ton of gloriously huge portobellos.   As an elementary school kid, I was the oddball geeklet who ordered mushrooms and olives on my pizza. All the cool 8-year-olds thought I was gross. Yeah, laugh it up after all that cholesterol, fat, and slimy rotten meat you guys used to slather on your nasty pizzas. I'm veggie and I know it. :) 

So for this incredibly delicious adult meal, I found vegan potato buns. Add a couple thick slices of avocado, some iceberg lettuce, and raw onion. Toss the portobello cap (or slices) into a lightly oiled skillet and pan fry for a few minutes until well-browned. Sprinkle a bit of sea or pink Himalayan salt on the portobello if desired, and layer into the sandwich.

For the beautiful side dish, slice up three or four (preferably local) squashes, three zucchinis, a vidalia onion, and more portobello mushrooms. Season with the salt and a bit of oil after dumping into a skillet or wok. Pour a little water in while lightly sautéing if the veggies appear to be drying out. Sauté (or stir-fry) lightly, until everything is minimally browned, but still rather crunchy. The color and crunch denote the presence of vitamins and minerals! 

Diet A&W root beer optional. Mandatory for those of us addicted to it. ;)

Chop Salad, No Soggy Lettuce

This is my go-to recipe for our own quick dinners or dinner parties. I don't really have a name for it. I just refer to it as my "tomato and salad". First, salad doesn't need greens to be a salad, so toss those to the side. Admit it, they sometimes get in the way of the good stuff. Chop approximately:

1 avocado

1/2 sweet onion

2-3 tomatos

2 seedless cucumbers

1/3 bunch fresh cilantro

1-2 fresh garlic cloves

Pour some olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar (or lime juice) over the veggies. Sprinkle some sea salt and grind some fresh black pepper. Stir it all up. Toss in a bit of vegan cheese if desired, or sprinkle a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast. Don't plan on leftovers. The avocado doesn't tend to last long and the vinegar or citric juice cooks the tomatoes. Prepare fresh, serve promptly. Serves 2-4 people, depending on whether you're using this as an entree or side dish.

Humongo Vegan Nachos

My husband's favorite thing in the world (other than me) is chips and salsa. But if he's really honest with us, it's got to be nachos. Last night, we threw a Tofurky Pizza in the oven topped with some extra Daiya vegan cheese, and thought that perhaps the pizza wasn't enough to fill our rumbling stomachs. I decided to whip up some nachos... and 15 minutes later we realized we had far too much food on the table. David admitted it was his dream meal.

For the nachos, I prefer white corn chips from Trader Joe's, or any other brand that uses simple ingredients... corn, salt, oil. Period. Sprinkle on some vegan cheese shreds (Daiya really is the best melting vegan brand) and toss in the microwave. We didn't add bean chili or black beans, but to make these even more "humongo" dump some of those on as well. Pour on salsa (opt for a fresh, even low sodium brand if possible), and top with sliced olives, diced de-seeded fresh jalepenos, chopped onion and avocado chunks. Dig in.